“Before we get into anything as far as this show, let me say something.”

Gravity is clearly pissed off, not that this is a change from the norm.

“Listen to me, bitchboy. Saw your little joke piece. That’s cute, and I admit, I’m a little flattered. You wish you could have someone like me on your nuts, but I don’t get down like that, so you’ll have to keep settling for sucking off guys in rest stop bathrooms.”

“But this goes to something larger. Take a look at who I am, and take a look at who you are. I am one of the most decorated champions this company has ever had. I am an internationally recognized star. You? Who the f*** are you, exactly? What have you done around here to earn your keep? When they write the history books of LCW, if and when it ever finally dies, in between the chapters on the greats such as myself or my associate here, do you think they’ll even be able to carve out a page, or even a f***ing paragraph for you?”

“Your arms are far too short to box with God. Stay in your lane. You go back to jerking curtains and jerking Picasso, and you let the superstars like us hold that higher echelon. I am the reason your paycheck exists. It was my matches, my title reigns, that kept this business afloat. People aren’t lining up at the door to see you, in part because they can’t tell you apart from the half-dozen other carbon copies of you that have come through the door. S***, sometimes even I think I’m talking to Dusk the Dreamslayer.”

“No, people are coming because they know that I’ll be there. Go check the tapes of all the guys I put in the hospital, all the careers I’ve ended, just because I felt like it. There’s a reason you don’t hear names like Brian Shotgunn or Pilz anymore, and you’re looking at it. And if I would do those things to those people – and don’t forget, Pilz was a f***ing friend of mine – if I’ll do that to them just for my own personal amusement and betterment, what the f*** do you think I’ll do to you?”

“In case you haven’t heard, I’m the f***ing Candyman around here, if you say my name enough, I will spring up behind you and kill you. My name is Gravity for a reason. Not because it looks good on a shirt or because it’ll strike fear into people’s hearts, but because I will take all your lofty goals and dreams and send them crashing back down to Earth. I’ve seen tons of guys just like you come into here and try to go after one of the big dogs just to make a name for themselves. You think you’re going to use me as a stepping stone to the main events, to the title chances, to the big paychecks? Fat f***ing chance. You’re a lifetime midcarder, and when LCW dies its final death, you can go somewhere else and put ‘Enhancement Talent’ on your resume.”

“You do NOT want it with me, boy. I am not the enemy you want to make. In the words of one rapper of note, ‘suck a d*** with AIDS on the tip and keep my name off your lips.’”

Gravity snorts an exhale, then turns to Messiah, who has not averted his gaze from the window.

“Thank you, the floor is yours.”

Gravity leaves, screen left, and a few seconds later a door is heard opening, and then, as they tend to do, closing. The whole while, Messiah looks out the window at the scene before him.

“When I came to Mercury, it was with the stated goal of becoming the World Champion. I have shouted it from every mountaintop on which I can find solid purchase, but it has apparently fallen on deaf ears.”

“The ‘powers-that-be’, or more specifically, the ‘power-that-is’, have made every effort to placate me. Here are a few warm-up matches against alleged wrestlers, just to make sure you are still in shape. Here are some house show matches, to make sure you haven’t lost a step.”

“What certain people fail to understand is that I have already accomplished as much as possible as a tag team wrestler. I have nothing more to prove in that arena. I was a champion in that division twice when it actually meant something, when this company was at its prime and could put together a 16-team tournament as opposed to slapping teams together out of the blue.”

“Yet here we are. A man with nothing left to prove in a certain field being thrust back into that field against his will. A man with something to prove in another line being held back by the invisible hand of the powerful. A man with all the skill in the world being thrown into gimmick matches and put up against so-called wrestlers who everyone knows do not stand a chance of surviving against me.”

“But, here I remain. Those that wish me ill do things such as these to test my resolve, to make me question whether or not what I am doing is worth the struggle. But there is no question in my mind that it is and that it shall be, for when I am ultimately successful, when I stand before you with what is rightfully mine hoisted above my head in the center of a ring, there will be no room for questioning, or backstabbing, or backstage politics.”

“As the last man to hold the North American title, admittedly for a short time, I am automatically the number one contender for the gold that Harbinger disgraces every single day. But this company shuts its doors and forgets its history, and now I am relagetd to this.”

Gabrielle is clearly getting to be his stoically emotional self, as the glass on the window begins to fog up.

“And so the path begins anew, having to jump through all the hoops to climb the ladder once again. Lucky for those in control that I am an obedient soldier, willing to follow orders for just long enough to earn their trust and them shoot them in the back.”

“Clark, all I know about you, all I care to know about you, is that in our one encounter, you were left lying on the mat, and I stood over you a champion. Summers, however many times you try to reinvent yourself, you will always be the same undisciplined, underwhelming waste of talent you have ever been. I plan on making shining examples of you both, a sign for all who follow that no matter how many roadblocks may be put in my way, I will work my way through them by sheer force of will.”

Messiah turns away from the window, giving his icy stare to the camera for the first time.

“Dean Wallace, stand clear and enjoy the show, because I plan on once again showing the world why I am the one true god of wrestling.”

Fade to black.